A renovated school for Songan’s children

Children living in Songan, a cocoa-growing community in eastern Côte d’Ivoire, and their families, have a good reason to be happy. They now have a renovated school, fully equipped, offering all the safe facilities for a successful education.

To help promote education in cocoa communities in Côte d’Ivoire, Nestlé and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) have undertaken the renovation of this six classroom school and the Director’s office, after having noted its dilapidated state.

310 children now have access to quality education in this cocoa community of 13,872 inhabitants, including 373 producers integrated into the Nestlé supply chain. This reduces the risk of finding them working on cocoa farms.

Primary school of Songan 2 renovated

Pupils are happy with their now classroom

The view of a renovated and equipped classroom.

The school sign discovered by the ICI Foundation Country Director and the Nestlé CI representative.

The common objective of helping to improve the living conditions of communities has led Nestlé and ICI to make every effort to fully equip every classroom and the Director’s office, in addition to the completely refurbished buildings. This school is a response to the severe lack of school infrastructure in the cocoa-growing areas of Côte d’Ivoire, where children often have to walk several kilometres to reach the nearest school or attend classrooms in advanced states of disrepair, with all this posing risk or danger to them, especially the smallest and the youngest.

Speaking about the partnership, Patricia Ekaba, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Nestlé Côte d’Ivoire, said: “Every child’s place is in school. Access to quality education is fundamental to ensuring a better future for children. This is an important asset in building more resilient and prosperous cocoa farming communities and in eradicating child labour.”

Speaking on this occasion, Madam Euphrasie Aka, Country Director of the ICI Foundation, underlined the constant commitment of its structure to promote child protection, children’s rights and to fight against child labour in cocoa communities. “This new school will contribute to the academic performance of the children of Songan village. With Nestlé, ICI is committed to making a lasting change, because we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to create his or her own future”.